Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-10-14
WONDERFUL LONGEVITY.
rhe Life Preserving Influence OF Wise Reci
men and Abstemtous Habits.

The common idea is, that longevit,
,nends entirely on inherited constitu
.on. The man whose father ant
bother, grandparents and great grand
parents attained high average age il
supposed to have much better chanc,
| Of long life than one whose forefather'
have been short-livcd. Probably Their,
| Is much truth in this idea; but it Is not
improbable. aud the point seems wortl
careful study, that longevity is affected
indirectly rather than directly by i'm
heritance. 1t may well be that tn,
descendant of long-lived folk Is apt to b,
long lived, not solely or chiefly because
he inherits constitutional pcculiaritie'
tending to length of life. but because
he ipherits qualities leading to temper
ancc aud abstinence by which life i
prolonged, or even simply because
temperance and abstinence have been
encouraged during his youth by ex
ample and by precept
Considering the question of longevit,
FROM this point of view, the case OF
WI Whitii bsto Always ptti
bought most instructive. becomes full
also Of encouragement.
In the first place, it must be remcm
hered that Cornaro (who was born Al
Venice about the year li67) was mar
/ II weak constitution. Moreover, from
| the age Of eighteen to that of thirty fiy,
! he pursued courses that would hay,
| seriously taxed the strongest constitu-
| ton, ldfe at thrty-tiye was burden
10 him because Of the disorders brought
on by riotous living aud indulgence il
every kind Of excess The next five
years were passed in almost unremilte,
suffering. He was told by his ply.
icians when forty years old, that moth.
ing could proloog his life for more thar
wo ar three years, but such life as re
nained to him might be less painful
han the years he had recently lived il
10 would adopt more temperate habits
| II ever there WAS Il case whore inherited
constitution and an Incorporate lif,
threatened an early death. this Wa
Que. But, ms events befell. it turnet
out that, If ever there was case wher,
iife-preserying influence of wise regi
men and abstemious habits was demon
slrated, Cornaro's mist be cited AS es
pecially significant.
At the age of forty Cornaro begar
gradually to reduce the quantity OF
food, both liquid and solid. which he
took each day, till at length he onl,
took what nature absolutely required
He tells us that ut first he found thi,
severe regimen very disagreeble. ant
confesses that "he relapsed from tim,
TO time to the fesh-pots of Egypt.
But BY resumiug his efforts after eacl
failure he succeeded, in less than
year, in adopting permanently spar,
aud moderate system. BY this time h
WAS already restored to perfect health
But thus far he had only followed til,
counsels of the physicians somewha
more steadily than they expected, o
than is usu'l in such eases, and there
fore with unexpected good results.
was after he had recovered his healtI
that he went on to those experiment
by which he seemed to show how lif
may he extended far beyond the Psal
mist's allowance
From temperance he proceeded t,
abstemionsncss. Undctorred by tn
,loabts of his physicians as to the wis
dom OF such II course, he diminished
his daily allowance Of food. until ut las
he yelk Of an egg sutliced him foi
meal! Throughout the time when h.
was thus reducing his allowance of foo,
his health and spirits kept improving
Nay. he tells us that even his enjoy
mont in eating had increased for h
says he could now get more pleasur
from small meal of dry bread than h
had ever obtained in the days of his ex
cessos from the most exquisite daintie
If the table, As regards regimen
Cornaro simply avoided extremes o
heat and cold, over-fa'igue, late hours
excuses, and all violent passions of tn
mind;' he took moderate exercise il
the open air; and his chief pleasure
were those obtained from literary an,
artistic study, from the contemplation
Of one scenery, noble building, beauti
tul combinations Of color and swee
music.
When Cornaro was within two year
of four score his diet was regulated i
quality and quantity, as follows:
tour meals he took each day lively
unccs in all of solid food, CONSISTING
If bread stale, of course. for he wa
no. weak-miuded), light meat, yelk O
egg, and soup. RicAuI 4, Proctor, il
Cosmopolitan.